Kelly Dries, an accomplished educator with close to 20 years of experience in nursing and administration, has been named dean of Cardinal Stritch University’s Ruth S. Coleman College of Nursing.

Dries, who has most recently served as an associate dean in the School of Health Sciences at Milwaukee Area Technical College since 2009, has a wealth of experience in the development and maintenance of curricula, courses, and formal learning opportunities using various learning platforms.

Dries has long been connected to Stritch as both an alumna and adjunct faculty member. She earned her master of science in nursing degree from Stritch in 2003, and is presently pursuing her doctorate in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service in Higher Education from Stritch, with an anticipated completion date in 2014.

Stritch's Minnesota region held its commencement celebration on Sunday, June 3. More than 35 graduates received degrees at the ceremony held at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minn.

New 75th Anniversary items added to the Bookstore

Show your Stritch pride! Be sure to stop by the bookstore or check out the online selection for the latest in Stritch gear, including new 75th anniversary merchandise.

Annual Fund News

Help support our Faces of Stritch campaign!

These are the FACES of Stritch past, present and future. For 75 years, Stritch has maintained its commitment to being an agent of change and growth. Stritch graduates have, in unique and often powerful ways, been agents of transformation in the communities where they live and work.

Your support through a gift to the Annual Fund helps nurture new faces and new opportunities for transformation.

Our fiscal year ends July 31 - help us reach our goal as we close ourspring campaign!

Stritch Stories

Call for submissions

What’s your Stritch story? Do you have a special story or memory that you’d like to share and possibly have included in a future issue of the Alumni E-news? Submit your story to alumni@stritch.edu.

Faculty/Staff News

Sarah Blake, assistant director of undergraduate admissions, was awarded the Admission Professional of the Year award by the Wisconsin Association for College Admission Counseling. The award honors college/university admission professionals who exemplify excellence and dedication to serving the needs of students in the transition from high school to college.

Kou Vang, University creative director, contributed a chapter, “Making the Invisible Visible: Confronting the Complexities of Identity, Family and Culture through Art” in "Hmong and American: From Refugees to Citizens” (Minnesota Historical Society Press), edited by Mary Louise Buley-Meissner and Vincent K. Her. The book is an engaging series of essays featuring leading scholars, educators, artists, and community activists exploring themes of history, culture, gender, class, family, and sexual orientation, telling their own stories of developing complex identities and navigating the multicultural America of today. The book can be purchased here.

For more recent achievements of Stritch faculty and staff, click here.

Athletic News

Second annual Wolf Pack Open a success

Photo courtesy of Greg Daggett

The second annual Wolf Pack Open golf tournament benefitting Stritch Athletics was held on Sunday, June 3 at Ironwood Gold Course in Sussex, Wis.

This year's golf outing saw continued success as about 150 golfers enjoyed 18 holes of golf, and were a part of several raffles and contests throughout the day. Special thanks to major sponsors, Gregory Frost, '81 and Emile Banks, '81. Mark your calendar for the third annual outing to be held June 2, 2013.

At the May 23 Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting, president elect Phyllis Schaefer, ’91 ’93 ’95 ’04 was voted in as acting board president, replacing Joan Whitman, ’87 who stepped down for medical reasons.

Schaefer (pictured above) has been an active member and proven leader since joining the board in 2005. Whitman will continue serving on the board as past president through the end of the 2013 term.

The Alumni Association thanks Whitman for her dedication and leadership while serving as board president since January 2011 and looks forward to her continued involvement with the board.

Alumni Association helps sponsor special commencement reception

The Alumni Association was proud to help sponsor the first ever President’s Champagne reception held commencement weekend on Saturday, May 19 following the Baccalaureate mass.

Graduates had the opportunity to celebrate with family and friends, mingle with faculty and University President Dr. James P. Loftus, write special congratulatory messages to classmates, and have their photos taken with Dr. Loftus.

Alumni invited to join Dr. Loftus and Stritch team for St. Ben’s Run/Walk on July 26

As part of the University’s 75th anniversary celebration, Stritch will once again partner with St. Ben’s for their Run/Walk for the hungry, taking place Thursday, July 26 on the Summerfest grounds (run/walk starts at 7 p.m.).

As part of our “Stritch Serves” volunteer initiative, you can participate by joining the Stritch team for the 5k run or the 2-mile walk. Not only will you be supporting a wonderful ministry, but every participant receives a commemorative T-shirt and Stritch sweat band, free admission into Germanfest, a $5 food/drink coupon, and 2-for-1 coupon to return to Germanfest. Plus, you can enter the hours online you spent participating for “Stritch Serves.”

To register for the Stritch team, click here. To find out more information about St. Ben’s and the walk, visit their website here.

The alumni office is collecting stories of Stritch students who served at St. Bens. Do you have a favorite memory of serving meals for St. Ben’s while you were a student? If so, drop us a line at alumni@stritch.edu and put “St. Ben’s” in the subject line!

Stritch Serves: Reminder to log May volunteer hours

In celebration of Stritch’s 75th anniversary, a volunteer service initiative led by the University’s Staff Development Committee is underway to capture the many good works being done by University faculty, staff and alumni at community organizations, churches, schools, nonprofits, local businesses, and other entities. Learn more and log your volunteer hours here.

The goal is to contribute 7,500 volunteer service hours by the end of 2012. At the standard estimated rate of $20 per hour for volunteer service, 7,500 hours translates to a total contribution of $150,000 worth of service to our communities. As of the end of May we have recorded more than 3,000 hours of service!

More than 55 guests joined the Alumni Association for a special gathering of alumni at the University Club of Saint Paul on Sunday, June 3. Many of the recent Minnesota graduates were in attendance and had their first opportunity to mingle with other area alumni following their Commencement celebration earlier that afternoon.

In addition to networking with fellow alumni, the crowd had the opportunity to meet members of the Alumni Board and Dr. Peter Holbrook, newly named dean of the College of Business and Management.

Throughout the 2012 calendar year, each Cardinal Stritch University site in Minnesota will be collecting books to be shipped to Africa to fill the multiple needs of people, schools, and educational programs across the continent.

Since 1988, Books for Africa has shipped more than 24 million books to 46 African countries. They are on once-empty library shelves, in classrooms in rural schools, and in the hands of children who have never before held a book.

Books donated by publishers, schools, libraries, individuals and organizations are sorted and packed by volunteers who carefully choose books that are age- and subject-appropriate. Enough books are sent for a whole class to use.

“’Pomp and Circumstance’ will never get old for me,” said two-time Stritch graduate Emily Naczek, ’06 ’12. “It still gives me goose bumps.”

Naczek recently heard the notes of the historic commencement music as she processed in to receive her Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Stritch this spring. As a middle school math and religion teacher at St. Charles Borromeo Parish School in Milwaukee, she uses the skills she learned at Stritch on a daily basis.

“I’m a better religion teacher because of my Master’s work at Stritch,” she said. “The way I am professionally is a mirror of what I have seen in my professors at Stritch. Being a student has been a lesson on how to be a teacher.”